When should I seek help for my child? – Child Therapy Mississauga

When should I seek help for my child? – Child Therapy Mississauga

Knowing when to seek the help of a child therapist can be a difficult decision. At times, we may attribute acting out or problematic behavior to kids being kids, but at what point is it our duty and responsibility as parents to seek out child therapy? There are a number of recommendations we suggest:

Try to isolate the specific behaviors that are causing you concern. Don’t generalize the experience you are having by saying thing like “He’s just an angry child”. What are the specific characteristics, attitudes or behaviors that are worrying you? Once you’ve been able to isolate the behaviors, then we can be more objective when evaluating whether or not it warrants child therapy.

Secondly, pay attention to how often these episodes occur – daily, weekly, monthly. Avoid generalizations like “all the time” Be very concrete when examining the duration and intensity of the issues.

Try to be more objective in determining if his or her behavior are outside the norm of convention. Are you perhaps not used to that developmental stage in your child’s life or are they genuinely acting or behaving out of the range of normalcy for children of that age and within that stage.

Has something happened in your child’s life that could be causing stress or contributing to your child’s new temperament, or behaviors? Transitions such as divorces, sickness, and house moves are all life changing events that can cause shifts in a child’s overall emotional and psychological well-being.

How much impact are these behaviors/attitudes having on your child’s life or family members? Is it causing your child problems at school, at home with siblings or affecting activities your child is engaged in?

Seek a help from Child Therapy Mississauga for my child

If you have been able to isolate the unique behavior, and it happens more often than not, outside the norm of conventional child behavior, interrupting with your child’s quality of life and/or your child has undergone a stressful event, it is quite reasonable to seek the assistance of a child therapist in order to determine if your child is psychologically or emotionally vulnerable.

If you do feel that professional help in the form of child therapy is necessary, try Positive Kids. We offer a number of proven programs throughout the Greater Toronto Area led by trained child therapists.